Thaindian News

Patna, Sep 25 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked all district authorities to be on high alert after heavy rains across the state Sunday sparked fears of flood waters spreading to more areas in the state, officials said.

Already, low-lying areas of 12 districts are flooded due to rise in the levels of Ganges and Sone rivers.

“The chief minister held a meeting with top officials to review the flood situation and asked them to be on high alert,” an official at the chief minister’s office here said.

The state government has cancelled the leave of all engineers of the water resources department till Oct 15, while officials of the state disaster management department have been directed to be vigilant.

“The government has directed the district magistrates to intensify the vigil along the embankments and carry out flood protection work at vulnerable places,” an official of the water resources department said.

The Patna and Ara canals of the Sone river have been closed as a precautionary measure.

“The government sounded alert after heavy rains in catchments areas of major rivers and sudden release of over eight lakh cusecs of water from the Bansagar reservoir in Madhya Pradesh,” an official of the state disaster management department said.

Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary has asked officials to be on alert in the wake of the water discharge from Bansagar.

According to central water commission officials, all major rivers in the state are flowing above the danger mark, with flood-waters spreading to many areas and affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

The district authorities have asked hundreds of people to shift to safe places.

This is second time in 20 days when a sudden rise in water levels of the Ganges and Sone has created havoc among thousands of people.